A level campaign

As a Democratic Life supporter, you will be alarmed by exam board AQA’s recent decision to withdraw the only A level in citizenship studies. We implore them to think again.

AQA’s decision has serious implications for access to higher education, but the repercussions will be even more profound: citizenship education risks losing credibility as a serious subject and, in turn, as something that schools should take seriously.

The need for citizenship education in the UK has never been greater: young people are disaffected with formal politics; a reduction in the voting age to 16 looks increasingly likely; and schools are required to prevent extremism and engage their students with ‘British values’, including democracy and the rule of law.

Citizenship studies combines academic knowledge and understanding with practical action. It makes an excellent contribution to the development of employability skills and preparation for higher education.

We shall remind them that the A level carries full UCAS points and that Cambridge University, LSE and others refer explicitly to citizenship as an A level they look to when recruiting to a number of degree courses.

Our letter to AQA was a collaboration of the Association for Citizenship Teaching, Citizenship Foundation, Subject Advisory Group for citizenship, Political Studies Association, Active Citizens FE and Democratic Life.

All sorts of people want to keep A level citizenship and we are working hard to convince AQA to change its mind.

But we won’t stop there: we also encourage other exam boards to step in and fill the gap.